Focusing on My Life
by Golden Serpent
Summary: All human. Max goes to a new school, and guess who she meets? A lot better than it sounds.  My first. Read please!
1. Chapter 1

Focusing on My Life

Disclaimer: The awesome James Patterson owns this, not me. Though, if I had the choice, I would own it, not him.

Prologue

Max POV

I opened my eyes, and groaned. I sat up and looked at the clock. 6:03 AM. My first Wednesday at school, just waiting to happen.

I got out of bed and walked slowly to the bathroom. I stared at myself in the mirror.

Before I get into anything else, I should tell you that my name is Maximum Ride, and I'm 17 years old. You may think that's a weird name, but I'm glad that I have it. It makes me unique. Because I _am_ unique. All of you reading this are probably like, "Oh, _I _am unique, too," Well, you're not unique in the way that I am.

You see, I'm am 98% human, and 2% bird. Yup, that's right. _Bird. _I used to live at this place called the School. It was the most awful place EVER. They tortured us, didn't feed us, subjected us to experimentation, etc. I lived there with two other guys like me, Angel, 6, and the Gasman, 8, Gazzy for short. We managed to escape when a really stupid guard opened the door to our cage when I pretended to be bleeding and in pain.

Anyway, let's get back to the story.

So, I looked at myself in the mirror. I have blonde colored hair, with electric blue eyes. Those eyes are famous within the Flock (Gazzy, Angel, and I) for giving a death glare. I thought I could actually be pretty, but I never put on makeup and never went out of my way to make myself look prettier. That's because no guy has ever caught my eye before.

Little did I know that all of that was going to change today. On this boring Wednesday. On the bus.

Chapter 1

Max POV

After I washed up, and changed into something suitable (a green-long sleeved shirt, jeans, and black Converse), I went downstairs to eat breakfast and say hi to my adoptive mom, Dr. Martinez. She was the one that rescued us off of the streets when she realized that we weren't your regular old street hicks.

"G'Morning Max."

"Hey, Mom. I got to get going. The bus comes in like, 2 seconds. See you later."

"Bye, hon. Good luck at your first day of school."

I had to tell a little white lie to get out of the house. The bus actually came about 30 minutes later. I just wanted a little time on my own, without the stress of my mom asking what was wrong. I started the walk down to my stop.

It was kind of… relaxing, walking down the street, without anyone talking and nobody bothering me about something stupid.

After a little while, I heard the voices of my soon-to-be school mates. Some were loud and obnoxious; others were quiet and… quiet. I walked down and sat down on a bench by a tree that sat right behind the stop. I looked around. There was the noisy street, with loud honking cars and radios turned onto high. Then there was the quiet and lush forest that stood behind me. I could hear the creatures talking to each other, and the leaves rustling in the breeze. I decided easily that I liked the forest best.

All of a sudden, the chattering stopped. I looked to see what made everyone stop their talking, but I only saw the bus. I stood up and sighed, unhappy to be leaving by little forest. But, school was calling, so I had to go. Besides if I didn't, Dr. Martinez would get very mad if she found out I skipped on the first day.

I walked up to the bus doors and walked inside. Every seat was taken by loud children too engrossed in their conversation that they didn't even notice me when I got onto the bus. All of them, except one. It was way in the back. I walked down to the seat, and there was one person sitting there already.

"Can I sit here? All the other seats are taken." I asked this without looking at the person. I only glanced up long enough to see him give a quick nod.

Based on that quick glance, this was a human boy. He had dark brown- almost black- hair, with very light skin in comparison. He was wearing all black cloths. A black T-Shirt, black jeans, and black converse. _Just like mine!_ I thought.

I sat down next to him without really looking at him. I just thought about my classes and what would happen in them. I was so nervous.

Fang POV

"Can I sit here? All the other seats are taken." I heard a quiet musical voice asked. I gave a quick nod. I didn't dare turn around to see who it was. I wasn't sure I wanted to put up with another girl that just wanted to hook up. I looked really quickly at the girl through the corner of my eye. She wasn't even looking at me. She had blonde colored hair (I prefer redheads), a dark, long-sleeved shirt, jeans, and black Converse. Just like mine. She looked kinda pretty from the side. Well the good news was that she wasn't one of _those_ girls.

I looked out the window, and I heard her hair swing as she looked out the window too. There was a man in a white coat, gazing intently into the crowd, looking around for something. I wave of fear washed over me, and I quickly slid down onto the floor, out of view of people trying to look into the bus. I was surprised to see that the girl had slid down too. I peeked up out of the window, and saw that the man was holding a little dog and it looked like he was scolding it.

I let out the breath I was holding. The man was only a vet.

I climbed back into the seat, and the girl did too. I wondered why she did that. I saw, through the corner of my eye, that the girl was staring at me. I looked at her, and inwardly gasped.

She was so beautiful, her blonde hair shining in the light, and her looking hot in that outfit. But, I couldn't fall for her yet. First I had to know her and be her friend. But, I'm dating Lissa. But, Lissa's beauty paled in comparison to this girl's. I needed to know her. Something was drawing me to her. But, I needed to make a new rule. _No falling for totally hot girl until Lissa and me are over and I know the girl. _

Max POV

I stared at the boy. Why did he get scared of the man in the white coat? Maybe he was weirdly afraid of doctors, for some reason. I could see that he was staring at me through the corner of his eye. Why couldn't he just turn around so I could see the other half of his face? The half that I saw at the minute was quite… handsome.

Finally, he looked at me, and my heart started beating like crazy.

He was the most handsome guy I had ever seen. His dark, long hair shined in the dim light, and his eyes were black with a golden tint. His T-Shirt fit tightly over his muscular chest, and he was staring straight at _me. _He had this weird dumbstruck expression on his face. Just like how I felt.

Then he smiled. It was a gorgeous, crooked smile.

"Hey. My name is Jason, but I like to be called Fang."

"Um… hi. My name is Maximum Ride." It looked like he was about to say that that was a weird name, so I quickly said, "Max for short." He smiled again. Why did I feel this way about him? It has never happened before. I made a new motto. _No falling for the awesomely hot Fang. _I stored that away in my brain.

He looked like the strong but silent type. He looked kinda awkward talking to me.

"So, are you new here?" I was mesmerized by the way his lips moved when he talked, so it took me a minute to answer.

"Yeah, I am. How is it here?"

"It's fine. Kinda boring. Nothing new happens. If you want, I could help you tour the place. First, let's see what classes we have together." (A/N I know Fang doesn't talk this much, but I wanted it to happen in my story.)

"Oh, um… I have Advanced Science, Social Studies, Algebra, Lunch, Free Period, Guitar and Vocals, and Reading." I was really hoping he was in all of my classes, but then I remembered my rule. NO FANG!

"Same here. I'll tour you around, you can sit next to me in all of my classes except Lunch, because I have to sit next to my girlfriend, and she's the jealous type. But, you can sit at the same table with us."

My heart sunk. I was hoping that this guy would be single, but of course, the hottest guy in the world would be taken.

Fang POV

I saw Max's face fall when I said "girlfriend". I hated to see Max so hurt, but I loved Lissa. She may be loud, and obnoxious, and mean to others, and protective, and snotty, and a gloater… where was I? Oh yeah, she may be all of those things, but she was my first girlfriend ever. I wasn't going to give her up.

"So I'll see you later, then, in Advanced Science. It says that your locker is away from mine. After that, I'll give you a tour, okay?" I hoped she would say yes and that she wouldn't be too mad about me having a girlfriend.

She gave a small smile and said "Alright."

We rode on to school in silence. I kept looking at Max. I loved the way she looked when her golden hair floated around her face, her electric blue eyes taking everything in.

When we got to school, she gave a quick goodbye, and left quicker than I thought.

_God. She is beautiful, _I thought as she disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Max POV

I walked down to my locker.

"139, 139, 139. Ah, 139."

I turned to my locker and put in the combination. I opened it, and put in all of the stuff that the list I got over the summer told me to buy. I kept the stuff that I needed, and I shut my locker. Leaning on the locker next to mine, was the second hottest guy I've ever seen. He had blonde tousled hair, with darker blonde streaks. He had beautiful green eyes. He was wearing a white T-Shirt with jeans, and green Converse. Totally not my style. He looked completely at ease.

He looked at me with those green eyes, but it didn't have the same effect on me that Fang's eyes do. Fang made me melt and… whoa, why was I thinking about that. _REMEMBER THE MOTTO! _

"Hi," the guy said. "My name is Dylan. You're Maximum, right?"

"Just Max, thanks" For some weird reason, my birdlike instincts told me to stay away from this guy.

_Your birdlike instincts are right, Max. This… Dylan fellow is bad news. You should stay away from him._ This was my Voice. You don't have one. Oh, you're _so_ unlucky. You don't get the annoyingly cryptic messages in your head and invasion of the brain. _I'm _obviously the lucky one here.

_Hey, Voice. Long time, no annoy. What's up? What do you mean by stay away from Dylan? He seems nice enough._

_ Just stay away._

I sighed. This was all I would be getting from the Voice today.

"So, how would you like to go on a date with me?"

"I'm sorry, I zoned out. What did you say?"

"I said, would you like to go on a date with me?"

Whoa, I didn't see that coming. I didn't even know this guy, and he asked me out. He was cute, and it was my first day of school, which made it a good first day for me. But I knew I couldn't say yes. I didn't even know this guy. If it were Fang on the other hand… Stop it Max, I instructed myself.

"I'm sorry, Dylan. I can't go out with you now. I don't even know you, and it's my first day. Maybe I'll reconsider later."

"Alright. I'll talk to you later." The guy walked away. Strangely, he didn't look like he was affected by the rejection, but I ignored it. I then walked down to Advanced Science.

When I walked into class, the whole class looked at me. I felt a blush coming on. I fought it, and won. I looked around the room. I saw Fang waving at me, the corners of his mouth twitching. All of the other girls we gaping at me, like 'Oh my god, how come _she _gets to sit with the cute guy.'I smirked and walked over to the seat next to his. Class started right when I got into the classroom.

_Hey Max. _I looked at Fang.

"Did you say something?" I whispered

"No," Fang whispered back.

What the heck? What if… "What were you thinking 2 seconds ago, when I just came into the classroom?"

"Just what I was going to say to you when you got to the seat, 'Hi Max.' Why?"

"Because I heard it in my head. Hold on let me try something. Concentrate on finding a voice in your head that sounds just like mine."

_Hi Fang. How are you doing today? _I kept repeating this over and over until I heard the inhale of shock next to me. I opened my eyes and saw Fang looking at me, a golden tint in his beautiful eyes… God, why was it so hard for me to NOT fall for Fang? I mean, he was cute, but I didn't even know the guy. I could be his friend, but that's it.

"Whoa, how did you do that?" Fang was staring at me with an awed expression.

"Well, when I just sat down next to you, I heard 'Hi Max' in my head. It sounded kinda like your voice. So I was all like 'Did you say something,' blah, blah, blah, so hen I tried to think something to you. What did you hear in your head? Just making sure you're not hearing voices."

"I heard 'Hi Fang. How are you doing today?' That was so cool!"

"Maybe we could use it to talk to each other sometimes, like in class, when I teacher is droning on and on about crap that means nothing to society."

"It's a deal."

Fang POV

"It a deal."

I couldn't believe that there was a way that this beautiful girl and I could have some way to talk to each other, and no body else. It was even more special than when Lissa gave me… actually, Lissa gave me no presents at all in our two years of dating. What did I see in her?

I searched my brain for reasons why I dated Lissa, but I came up with nothing except for the fact that she was my first girlfriend.

The bell rang just then. Max and I walked down the hall to Social Studies. We tested out our new ability. It looked like we were just walking with each other, but we really were having a full conversation, complete with insults, comebacks and laughing.

Social Studies and Algebra flew by. Max and I 'talked' the whole time, but time soon came for Lunch. I led Max over to my table.

"So Max this is Iggy," I gestured to my blond-haired, blind brother, "and this is Nudge," gesturing to my adoptive, darkish skinned sister with black waves of hair.

"Nice to meet you all. Fang here has been nice enough to give me a tour of the school."

_How did Iggy get blind?_

_ He… was in a surgery… at a shady hospital. Something went wrong and now he's blind. But he has excellent hearing and feeling. He doesn't like being blind, but his feeling and hearing make up for it mostly._

_ I'd hate it if it was me._

I looked at Max, and she was staring at Iggy with a look of sadness and pity on her lovely face.

"So, where's Lissa?"

Nudge and Iggy openly groaned, and I inwardly groaned. Lissa came about halfway during lunch. She spent a lot of her lunchtime making herself more beautiful, but that wasn't really helping her image. She looked more NON-beautiful when she did that. And she always wears makeup that clashes with her flaming red hair.

"Just be glad that she's NOT here yet. She would kill you for being friends with Fang. We'll just tell her you're my new friend," Nudge blurted out quickly.

"Thanks a lot. I don't want to die on the first day of school. That would put a damper on my day wouldn't it?" Everybody burst out laughing, and I cracked a smirk. I was known as 'Fang who doesn't talk much', so to everybody but Max, who has seen me talk a lot, a smirk was like me laughing, too.

Max went to sit by Nudge, and they started talking about each other, like favorite colors and foods, etc. I learned that Max's favorite color was blue, and her favorite food was chocolate chip cookies. I dreaded, I mean waited, for Lissa to come.

A few minutes later, Lissa walked in looking like a sl… I wasn't allowed to think of my girlfriend that way. She came over to the table.

"Hey Fangie-Poo!" I hated that nickname. It sounded even worse with her nasal voice.

It might seem to you that I really don't like Lissa, and I really don't love her that much anymore… but she used to be nice before she dated me and at the beginning of our relationship. Quiet, pretty, and smart. Now, she's loud, uglyish, and stupid.

Right then, she was nibbling on my neck. I pushed her away, but I put my arm on her shoulders. I couldn't put up with a pout fest right this minute. Max and Nudge were still taking about… stuff. Lissa saw me watching them.

"Who is she?" Max and Nudge both looked up. I saw Nudge whisper something to Max, and she smirked. Lissa was getting angry. Max saw and smiled even wider. It took all of my concentration to keep my lips from twitching.

"What the hell are you smirking about bi-atch?" Max's smile slid right off, and an angry expression replaced the look on her face. I didn't like where this was going.

Max POV

I saw Nudge lean over and she whispered, "She knows who I am. She sits with us every day. How stupid is she?" I smirked, and looked Lissa. She was turning red. That made me smirk even more.

"What the hell are you smirking about bi-atch?" My smile slid right off. I was getting angry. I felt my teeth clench, my eyebrows furrow. I didn't want to know what I was going to do this girl, but I was pretty sure it would involve this slut going to the hospital with no memory of how she got hurt.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Do I own it now?

Fang: NO!

Me: Shoot.

Chapter 3

Max POV

I stood up before anybody could blink. I walked over to Lissa and Fang. I pushed Fang's arm off of Lissa's shoulders, and Lissa looked shocked and *edited by mod* at the same time.

"Who are you talking to? I'm not the one wearing the skirt and shirt that are too short. I feel sorry for anybody that can see."

"Oh, yeah, you think you're better than me? You so deserve this." (A/N In this, Lissa is a really good at punching. She's a lot of practice punching girls who look at and talk to Fang.)

I looked into her sick looking, muddy brown eyes, and saw that she was going to punch me. She punched at me, but I grabbed her arm and twisted. She twisted in mid air and landed on her chest. "Ow…" She moaned. I walked over and sat right on top of her. I saw Nudge tell Iggy what happened, and both of them started howling. Soon, everybody was laughing, except me and Fang. Fang was grinning, which was like him rolling around on the ground and laughing like crazy.

I cracked a smile and looked down at Lissa. She was pounding her fists on the cafeteria flour.

"Get off of me. Fangie-Poo, help me!" I looked at Fang while she said this. His smile went away when she said 'Fangie-Poo'.

"Alright. I'll make you a deal.

Don't some any closer to me than, oh, 100 feet.

You will sit at another table. Not the one where me, Nudge and Iggy sit. You will sit somewhere else. Fang can sit wherever he wants. If he wants to sit with us, you cannot. I don't care if he is your boyfriend.

Stop calling Fang 'Fangie-Poo.'

Wear normal clothes.

Stop being such a bi-atch.

Do you get all of that?" Lissa nodded her head. She was obviously scared. Why not scare her a little bit more? I growled, causing Lissa to whimper.

"I said, DID YOU GET ALL OF THAT?"

She said "Yes ma'am, sir, whatever."

"Good." I stood up off of her, and pretended to stretch. "Now get off of my site. NOW!"

She got up and started walking towards the exit. Then I remembered something. "Oh, Lissa!" She turned reluctantly towards me. "I'll always be watching." She looked scared for a second, then walked off.

I walked back over to our table. Nudge was giggling and Iggy was grinning. "Badass," he said.

"Baddest ass _you'll_ ever meet!" I replied. He held up his hand for high five. I slapped his hand. This was what it was like to have friends.

Fang POV

After lunch, me and Max went to Free period. I didn't do much. I just watched Max. She read a book. I saw her reading _How to Put up with Being New_. I just watched her the whole time. I kept seeing new things about her. Her hair had blonde on top and brown underneath. Whenever she was came he twirled her hair on her fingers.

Too soon, the bell rang for Guitar and Vocal class. Max and I walked down to class.

Max POV

When we walked into Guitar and Vocal class, everyone grinned at me. Some of my peers even gave me high fives.

_Hey Fang? Why is everybody acting like this?_

_Nobody's ever stood up to Lissa before. You, a newbie that nobody knows anything about, did that. Everyone's happy about the change._

When I heard this, I felt… good. It felt good to be recognized for something that I did.

A few minutes after we walked into class, the teacher came in. He was in a normal T-Shirt, blue, with jeans. He had a silver earring hoop in his left ear, and wasn't wearing any shoes.

_Why doesn't the teacher wear any shoes?_ Fang's lips twitched when I asked him this question.

_Nobody knows._ Obviously, this wasn't your ordinary tie-and-dress-shirt kinda teacher. I liked him already.

"Hello, class. Well, I can see that we have a new student. Maximum Ride, could you please stand up?"

I wasn't afraid of standing up in front of the class. I stood and gave a little wave to everybody in class.

"Alright. Well, this is vocal class, so we need to hear how everybody sings. Maximum,"

"Max," I corrected quickly. It would be weird to have him call me Maximum for the whole year.

"Max. We are going to need you to sing for the class. We need to see how good you are. "

I'd have to SING! I didn't know that I would have to sing. The only time that I sing is when I am in the shower. What am I going to do?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I stared blankly at the teacher. "I HAVE to sing?" I asked. The teacher nodded.

"Alright, let me think of something." It didn't take long for me to find which song I wanted to sing. It was a song I sang to Angel every night since she was 3.

"I've picked my song."

The teacher then asked, "What song is it?" Gee, I wonder why.

'It's called 'Good Company', from the Walt Disney movie Oliver and Company."

Some kids in class started snickering. I whirled around to face them. Thankfully, Fang wasn't one of them. "Oliver is one of the best movies EVER! I pity you, as I guess you haven't seen it." That shut them right up. Or it might have been my death glare set at 'If looks could kill, you'd be dead right now'. I wasn't sure.

"Should I start now?" I teacher nodded.

"Okay, but if your eardrums break because of my horrible singing, it's not my fault!" The class laughed, then got quiet. I began singing.

_You and me together we'll be,  
>Forever you'll see.<em>

I looked at my feet while I sang.

_We two can be good company,  
>You and me,<br>Yes, together we two._

I looked at Fang. He smiled and put his thumbs up.

_Together, that's you,  
>Forever with me.<br>We'll always be good company,  
>You and me,<br>Yes, together we'll be._

I looked at the class and teacher, and they were looking at me in awe.

_You and me  
>Together we'll be,<br>Forever, you'll see.  
>We'll always be good company,<br>You and me,  
>Just wait and see.<em>

When finished, the whole class started clapping.

"Bravo," the teacher said. "That was very, very good. You have potential with your voice." The class slowly got quiet again. "Now you have to play guitar with someone."

I looked around at the people that had their hands up. I kept looking around, hoping Fang would raise his hand. I saw a movement through the corner of eye, about where Fang was.

I looked at Fang. He was slowly raising his hand. Everyone but me gasped. "He never volunteers," I heard someone say. I grinned at him.

"I choose Fang." Fang smirked and we went to go get our guitars. I picked a nice blue electric guitar. He picked a solid black one. Not surprising.

_Fang, I want to play the song by Avril Lavigne, What the Hell. Only the chorus though._

He nodded.

We started. I played the part in my head.

_All my life I've been good but now, I'm thinking what the heck  
>All I want is to mess around and I don't really care about<br>If you love me, if you hate me, you can't save me, baby, baby  
>All my life I've been good but now, whoa, what the heck<em>

_What... what... what... What the heck?_

When we played the final note, Fang patted me on the back. The other students clapped and whopped. I took that as a 'good job!'

After we put away our guitars, the bell rung, so me and Fang left for Reading.

It flew by very quickly. And pretty soon I was on the bus with Fang again. Ah… Fang… Gosh, why was it so hard for me to forget about him? Well, I was not going to fall for him.

The first day of school was better than anything I could ever hope for. What a perfect day.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Disclaimer- I do not own this... *sob*

Max POV

Fang and I had a think conversation about random things. At the beginning, it was about rabbits, and by the time we got to the stop, the conversation was about fat guys. Weird, right?

Fang and I got off the bus and started walking home. Fang's house was in the same direction as mine. In fact, he was walking with me even after we walked past the point where there weren't many houses anymore. Something was up.

"Um, Fang. Where do you live?"

"I live at 2314 Buckleberry Lane."

"Well, that explains why you're still walking with me even after all the houses have mostly gone by." Fang looked confused, so I said, "Fang, you're my next door neighbor.'

Fang looked surprised, then happy. Well, he grinned at me, which was like him being very happy.

"Well than, I guess you and I will be walking to the bus stop together everyday."

For some weird reason, this made me very happy. I didn't know why, but I think it had something to do with the 'Fang and me walking to the bus stop together every day' part.

Fang and I walked in silence for the rest of the walk.

At the end of the walk Fang looked at his house, and I looked at mine.

"Would you-" we both asked at the same time. I blushed and looked at the ground.

Fang was the first to speak. "So, would you like to come over."

"Sure. First let me go home, take a shower, change, and tell my mom where I'm going."

"Okay, I'll see you later." Fang walked towards his house and I walked towards mine.

Fang POV

I walked inside my house. Iggy was sleeping on the couch. Nudge wasn't in site. She was probably in her room blabbering on and on with her friends about something I'd think was crap. I trudged up the stairs up to my room. As I passed by, I heard Nudge's voice coming from her room. Yup, she was talking to her friends.

I walked into my room. Everything is black. Black wall, black bed sheets and pillows, black desk, black lamp, black EVERYTHING. I threw my backpack into a corner of the room. I plopped down onto my bed. I looked around my room. Everything was neat…ish. I didn't think Max would mind.

Max. She was so beautiful. She was strong, smart, funny, beautiful. Everything I want in a girlfriend. I sat up in bed. I rubbed my forehead. I was so conflicted right then.

On one hand there's Lissa, redhead, loud, obnoxious, but my first girlfriend. On the other hand, there's Max, blonde, smart, funny, beautiful, the only one that would come up with the nerve to stand up to Lissa, but I didn't think she'd have feelings for me, too, and she was just a friend.

The more I thought about it, the more I became sure. I wasn't in love with Lissa anymore. I was falling for Max.

As soon as I thought that, I felt happiness inside. I was falling for Max. I wasn't in love with obnoxious Lissa anymore. It felt like a heavy weight was lifted off my shoulders. I was falling for Max.

But then, a wave of sadness came over me. What if she didn't like me back? She probably had tons of boyfriends already. And anyways, if she found out about my secret, she'd dump me in 2 seconds flat. But the good news was that I WAS FALLING FOR MAX!

Max POV

I walked into my house. I gave my mom a hug and told her that the first day of school was fine and that I made a few friends. I ran upstairs and took a shower. It felt so good to wash away all of hat drama that happened during lunch.

After the shower, I blow-dried my hair, something I usually never do. It came out nice and wavy. My natural blonde highlights looked nice… eh, I was turning into a girl! Ew.

After blow-drying, I went to find something to wear. I settled on a blue T-Shirt with 'You know I'm better than you' written on it, some normal jeans with a hole in the left knee, and my blue Converse. I went to the mirror for a quick look-over. I looked decent.

"Mom, I'm going next door!" I called out.

"Why?" She called back. She was in her study.

"I made a few new friends in school, and they live next door."

"Okay, hon. Have fun."

"Bye, Mom." That's one of the things that I love about Mom. She doesn't pry for info, she just figures it out as time goes by.

I walked over the little hill between mine and Fang's house. I weird urge to just sit there, but I couldn't keep Fang, my first real friend, waiting.

I walked up to the door and knocked. It opened. A nice looking woman with black-curly hair, a white dress shirt, black skirt, and black heels stood there. Totally not my style.

"May I help you?" Before I could answer, I heard Fang call, "Mom, it's the next door neighbor. I met her today in class."

"Can I come, too?" a little baby's voice asked. There was Angel, my 6 year old little sister. Her golden curls, blue eyes, cute face and fair skin made her irresistible. I held out my arms automatically and she climbed up.

_Fang,_ I mind-spoke, _my little sister followed me. She's coming to. Alright?_

'_kay,_ came Fang's quick answer.

I looked at Angel with my death glare set at 'I would kill you if you weren't so cute. '

"I won't do it again. I didn't want to be alone with Gazzy and his… little problem all day."

"Point taken." That's why Gazzy was the Gasman. There was a funky problem with his digestive system.

I carried Angel upstairs. I was so used to her carrying her wasn't a problem. I heard Nudge's voice coming from one room and another room had its door closed. I looked into the third room, and everything was black. That must've been Fang's.

Fang himself was lying down on the bed. I put Angel down. Then I tiptoed over to Fang, and sat down right on top of him.

Fang's eyes flashed open. "Get off!" he sad trying to push me off.

"Na." I replied. "With you hogging the bed and all, where will I sit."

"Well, you're crushing my wi- ribcage." he said.

Wait, he said wi-. What did that mean?

"Wait, you were about to say something with wi- weren't you?" Fang started shaking his head, but I pinned down his arms and stared him in the eye. He looked so hot and kissable… Stop it, Max!

He groaned, sighed, then groaned again. "If you get off, I'll tell you." I got off quickly, then looked at him with my hands on my hips.

"Okay, okay," he said, holding his hands out in defeat. "I have… wings."

Fang POV

I watched Max's face as I said that. Her expression didn't get shocked, scared or surprised.

"Prove it," she said. I took off my shirt. My shirt didn't have slits in it for the wings, so this was all I could do. Her expression softened a little, but it stayed mostly the same. I stretched out my 14 feet wingspan, dark-midnight-black wings, then looked at Max. Instead of shock on either of their faces, they were looking at each other with _joy_ on their faces.

Max ran over and gave me a hug. I didn't know why she did, but I hugged her back.

"What's this about?" I asked.

"We have wings, too," she asked excitedly.

I wonder if my shock showed on my face. But then, I started to smirk, then I full blown grinned. "Really?" I asked.

Max nodded. "Do you have any scissors?" she asked.

I nodded. I walked over to my desk and grabbed the scissors. I gave them to Max. She gave them to Angel. "Cut the shirt right where the wings are," Max instructed her.

Angel made 2 cuts very quickly, more quickly than I would've thought. Angel then gave the scissors to Max, who cut 2 slits into Angel's shirt.

Max and Angel closed their eyes. Angel's wings came out first. They were white and about 8 feet long. That explained why she was called Angel.

Max's wings were … beautiful. They were pale tan with light-brown patches and white streaks. They were about 13 feet, almost as long as mine.

Max and Angel were looking at me.

"That's so cool. Let's tell Nudge and Ig."

I walked out of my room, followed by Max and Angel. As we passed by Nudge's room, I yelled, "Yo, Nudge! Get out here! We need to talk. Max's here."

Nudge came out, and the four of us ran downstairs. Iggy was still sleeping. I shook him.

"Bro, there's something I, Max, and Angel need to tell you!" I shook him until he was awake.

When Iggy was fully awake, I said, "Angel and Max and I have to tell you something."

I nodded towards Max and Angel. They looked at each other. Then, they unfurled their wings and looked at Iggy and Nudge. Nudge was in shock, but Iggy had no idea what was going on.

"Ig, they have wings," Nudge whispered. Iggy's face showed shock after Nudge said that!

"They're like us." I said.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer:

Iggy: The author is so traumatized by this, that she made me say it... and I have no idea how I got here...

Debi: mumble, mumble, MUFFINS!, mumble, mumble

Iggy: Debi doesn't own the characters.

Chapter 6

Max POV

It was so cool to have someone, along with Gazzy and Angel, as part of our really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really small population of this world. I mean, out of every 6 billion is like 1 out of every billion people is an Avian-American. I prefer this term instead of… bird-kid, or freak. The white coats at the School were the ones that called us freaks.

I found out that Nudge's wings were a tawny color, and 11 feet long. Iggy's wings were a smoky grey color, and 15 feet long. I, in turn, told them that Gazzy's wings were 10 feet long.

"Sweet. It's so cool to have somebody else that's part of our…" Iggy didn't know what word would describe our little group.

"Flock." I said. "Before you guys, me, Angel, and Gazzy were the Flock. Now, you're part of it. Hmmm… we should have a secret handshake thing, or something like that." We all thought about it. Suddenly, I came up with a handshake.

"I got one. First' put 1 fist on the stack." I put my fist out first. Fang did it next, then Angel, then Nudge, then Iggy, after Fang helped him get his fist right on top. "Next, tap the backs of everyone's fists with the other hand." We did so. Everyone agreed that this would be our new Flock handshake.

Afterwards, we all plopped down on the couch, overjoyed with the fact that there were more of our kind.

Suddenly, there was a beeping noise. Nudge pulled out her phone and looked at the message. She gasped. "No way." She said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Look at this." Nudge held up her screen.

"omg. lissa cheatin on fang. tell qwik. not sure if she saw me. hurry. chels." I clicked the attachment. There was Lissa, glued to some other boy. It took me a second to realize it was Ryan, a boy in my Social Studies class.

"Fang. You should see this." I held the phone out to him. He took it and quickly read through the message. Shock came over his face when he looked at the picture.

"I can't believe she cheated on me," he said in a quiet voice.

Fang POV Even though I was going to dump Lissa anyway, It was a lot harder to dump her for cheating. And Ryan was one of my friends, one of the guys I played football and basketball with. This really put a damper on my happy spirits.

I felt an arm on my shoulder. I looked up slightly o see a flash of blonde. Max.

It made me feel better to see that Max was trying to comfort me. Even though she had no idea that I was falling in love with her, it felt good to know that she cared about me.

But that didn't take away all of the pain. It actually wasn't pain. I wasn't sad about me having to dump Lissa. It was just a little bit of disbelief. Lissa was always saying how she loved me and would never, ever leave me. Maybe she just wasn't feeling it anymore, like I was, or maybe she had been cheating on me for a while.

"Well," I said, "I know what I got to do." Everyone looked at me. "I got to dump her."

Nudge and Iggy grinned. "Yay," Nudge squealed. "No more having to deal with the Wicked Witch of our lives anymore!"

Max was half-smiling. "Well, then, I guess we have to go 'dump her' right now." she said.

I wasn't sure. Max whispered, "I'll come with you. I'd just love to see the look on her face when it happens." That made up my mind. I was going.

Nudge and Iggy wanted to go to. Max decided to let Angel and Gazzy go, too. So basically, he whole flock went. Iggy and Gazzy hit it off really quickly. They both loved blowing up things.

Lissa's house wasn't very far away from mine. We only had to walk for about 10 minutes to get there. We talked about lots of things, At first we talked about the flock, but by the time we got there, to topic was the best kind of cheese.

When we finally got to Lissa's house, I realized this was something I dreaded. Lissa was a drama queen, and I knew she would make a scene when I told her.

Max saw the uneasiness on my face. "Don't worry," she said, "I'll come with you. Moral support."

I felt better when she said this. I wouldn't have to face her by myself.

We walked up to the door. Max moved off to the side, just in case Lissa opened the door.

Lissa _was_ the one that opened the door.

"Hey Fang!" She didn't see Max, and she didn't say 'Fangie-Poo.' Max's lesson must have really stuck in her brain. "Why are you here?"

"I just came to tell you…" This was the hard part. She waited for me to go on.

"I came to tell you…" I couldn't get it out. Max was looking at me. I saw her through the corner of my eyes. She must've seen the look on my face, because she walked over to me and held my hand. My heart started beating like crazy. Lissa's face went from anticipation to anger and disbelief.

"He came to tell you that he's breaking up with you. He's with me now."

Max POV

I watched Fang stumble with his words. He couldn't get them out. I had to do something. I thought of it two seconds later.

I stood up and walked over to Fang and looped my fingers through his. I looked at the witch's face, and it glowed with anger and disbelief. _Here it comes_, I thought to myself.

"He came to tell you that he's breaking up with you. He's with me now."

The words came out before I could stop them. Now that Fang was single, he could be my boyfriend, but I didn't think he liked me back.

Based on Lissa's face, she didn't believe us, hence the disbelief. "I bet you just want to get rid of me, so you can have Fang all to yourself. Prove that you guys are dating."

Fang and I looked at each other.

_Should we…_ he thought.

_It's the only way to prove we're dating._

He starting leaning towards me first. I leaned towards me. Our lips touched . My eyes suddenly felt heavy and I closed them.

Fang pulled away. The kiss lasted only about three seconds, but it was worth it. It had felt really good. And for another thing, it felt really right.

I couldn't bask in that feeling anymore. Business had to be taken care of. I looked at Lissa. She was seething.

"Does that prove it to you?"

"Yes," she growled at us. "But be warned, you boyfriend stealer, I will be watching and you will not make it out of this year with you social status intact. She slammed the door in our faces.

Fang quickly let go of my hand. I let it swing back to my side. We walked down the steps, and the rest of the Flock came over to us.

"How long have you been together? Why didn't you tell us?" I tried to answer their questions, but I couldn't. It way too hard. I got really fed up.

'Stop!" I shrieked. Everyone stopped talking and looked at me.

"Me and Fang aren't together. We had to… do _that_ because Fang was having some problems with breaking up with Lissa, so I stepped in to help him out. Lissa didn't believe us, so we did that to 'prove' it.' I made air quotes when I said 'prove'. 'Do you understand now." Everyone nodded and we continued on our way to Fang's house.

During the walk back, all we talked about was the look Lissa got on her face when we told her the 'news'. It was red and splotchy and grosser looking than ever, which was really something difficult to achieve. E had a lot of laughs because of that messed up looking face.

When we got to Fang's house, I thought of one _little_ back-fire in our plan.

"Oh my gosh." I said. Everybody looked at me. "Lissa probably told everybody about what happened by now. People at school will expect us to hold hands, walk together, kiss in public, the whole she-bang! What should we do Fang. If we go to school, and tell everyone we broke up or something, Lissa will try to get you back again. She probably doesn't know that you saw that picture of her and Ryan. What'll we do?"

Fang was looking at the ground, a thoughtful expression on his face. "I guess we'll have to be pretend boyfriend and girlfriend."

I was shocked. Was he really willing to do that?

I looked around the room. "What do you guys think?" I asked.

Nudge was the first to speak. "Maybe you could-no. I guess you'll have to do that. If Lissa sees you guys without each other, she'll know something was up. She'll think you guys tricked her, and will give you both heck. It's the on-" The rest of her comment was cut off when Iggy clamped his hand over her mouth. I was amazed.

"Did you say all of that in one breath?" I asked.

Nudge nodded with some difficulty due to Iggy's hand on her mouth.

I held my hand up for a high-five, and grinned at her. "You got talent, girl." Iggy took his hand off of Nudge's mouth, thinking it was safe. Nudge grinned back at me and slapped my hand back.

I looked at Fang. He was looking at me. What in the world does this mean?


End file.
